Non-refillable bottle.



J.. P. STENDEBACH.

NON-REFILLABLE BOTTLE. APPLIOATION FILED DB0. 2, 1908. RBNBWED SEPT; 2o, 1911.

1,018,993, v Patented Feb.27,1912.

WlTN ESSES INVENTOR l A/ K/QMM,

ATTORNEY COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH cowAsmNaroN, D. C.

JOI-IN P. STENDEBACH, OF FRUITVALE, CALIFORNIA NONREFILLABLE BOTTLE.

rSpecification of Letters Patent;

Patented Feb. 27, 1912.

Application filed December 1908, Serial No. 465,667. Renewed September. 20, i911. Serial No. 650,456.

To all 'wh-0m t may concern! Be it known that I, JOHN I. STENDEBAOH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fruitvale, in the county of Alameda and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Non-Refillable Bot tles, of which the following is a specification.

rIhe object of the presentv invention is to provide a device which will prevent the fraudulent refilling of bottles in any manner whatever, and will at the same time be sufficiently cheap in construction to enable the device to be extensively introduced.

In the accompanying drawing, Figure 1 is a vertical section of the upper portion of a bottle, in its erect position, equipped with my improvement; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the same in an inverted position; Fig. 3 is a similar View of the same in a horizontal position; Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the sealing disk; Fig. 5 is a section on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1; Fig. 6 is a longitudinal sectional viewv of the lower float lock; Fig. 7 is a section on the line 7 7 of Fig. 3; Fig. 8 is a section on the line 8-8 of Fig. 3; Fig. `9 is a view similar to Fig. S showing the position of the part-s when the neck of the bottle is lled with liquid; Fig. 10 is a section on the line 10--10 of Fig. 1; Fig. 11 is a view similar to Fig. 10, of a modified form of the part shown in Fig. 10.

Referring to the drawing, 1 indicates thev body of the bottle, of which a portion only is here shown, and 2 indicates the neck having a shoulder 50. In said neck below said shoulder 50 is inserted a cork -sleeve 3, and into the neck is inserted the casing 4 of my anti-refilling device, which casing is formed with a shoulder 5 adapted to be seated upon the shoulder 50. To the lower end of said casing, either formed in one piece therewith or attached thereto as may be found convenient, are a pair of curved spring catches 6, (Fig. 10) one end of which is Xedly secured while the other end 7 projects through a slot or opening 8 formed in t-he lower end of the casing. When inserting the casing 4 into the neck of the bottle, said projecting ends 7 are retained within the casing until they arrive at the lowest portion of the neck, whereupon said ends 7 spring outward through the slots 8 into the body of the bottle beneath the neck, and firmly secure the device to the neck of the bottle.

In the modification shown in Fig. 11, there is provided a single piece 9 of spring wire suitably bent to form a coil 10 and ends 11 adapted to project through the slots 8 in like manner as the ends 7. The lower portion of the casing 4 is slotted as shown at 12, for a purpose which will hereinafter appear. In the upper end of the casing are secured cir cular fences 13, 14, 15, which are in the form of disks, having parts cut out therefrom to form passages 16 for the liquid, the parts 17 of said fences between said passages being concaved upwardly or dish-shaped as shown at 18, the effect of which is that, if a wire be inserted for the purpose of tampering with thevdevice, the advancing end of the wire, striking the concave portion of one of the fences, will, by reason of the curvature of said portion, be bent, and thereby, upon continued depression of the wire, its lower end will begin to turn back upon itself and eX- tend upwardly. Any number of such fences vmay be shown, one below the other, and I have herein shown three, and in all cases the passages 16 through the respective fences. will be staggered in a vertical direction, so that each passage will be cut of vertical line with the passages through the fences above and below the same. All of these fences, in addition to the bearing plates and other plates secured transversely in the casing, as hereinafter described, are secured therein by formingin the wall of the casing two annular inwardly extending heads 19 between which the lcircular edge of each plate fits closely.

`At the center of the uppermost disk or fence is formed a pin or knob 20, upon which rests a hub 21, formed upon a sealing disk 22 of very thin material, almost as thin as metal foil, the edge of which is pressed into an annular groove 23 formed on thel inside of the neck of the bottle, its center being supported by means of the vuppermost fence disk. Since this sealing disk is of very thin material, it is easily deformed, and, consequently, if it'bel attempted to tamper with the bottle, such tampering will inevitably re sult in deformation of thesealing disk, and will thus be detected. The neck of the bottleis closed above the sealing disk by means of the usual cork 24. The sealing diskis formed with passages 25 to permit the liquid to escape therethrough from the bottle. The seal is stamped with suitable letters or characters 26 which cannot be restored to their original form after being deformed by removal or tampering with the device.

. sured by means of a coiled spring 31 around the stem 28 and pressed between said float 30 and the bearing 29 for the stem. Said valve is also additionally guided by means of a lower stem or guide rod 32 secured to the valve and slidable through a bearing 33 in a transverse bearing plate 34. To said Vguide rod are secured small collars 35, 36,

between which is suspended upon said rod a cylindrical float lock 37, which lock has a flaring aperture 38, so that when the bottle is in a horizontal position, as shown in Fig. 3, said float lock lies in an oblique direction, the rod then contacting with the upper side of the flaring aperture. When in this position, the lower edge of the float lock engages a cylindrical stop 39 secured within the casing, and, by its engagement with said stop, prevents the longitudinal movement of the valve away from its seat. But when in the inverted position, as shown in Fig. 2, the edge of the float lock no longer engages said stop, but can slide into the cylindrical stop, permitting the valve to drop from its seat. Also when pouring out, the liquid in the neck floats the lock, disengaging it from the stop and permitting the valve to slide open to discharge the liquid. The slots 12 are of importance in this operation, as they permit of a ready and quick flow of the liquid to raise the float lock and permit it to clear the stop 39 and release the valve.

If the bottle is partly filled, the effect is to float the float upward, so that its lower edge no longer engages the cylindrical stop,

v and it would then be possible to fill the bottle by agitating the same horizontally beneath the surface of liquid, since the valve is no longer held to its seat by the float. To prevent refilling of the bott-le in this manner, when there is a suflicient amount of liquid therein to elevate the float, I provide, in the Lipper part of the casing, an upper float lock 40, which is approximately semicylindrical in form, and is pivoted on a crank-shaped rod 41 pivotally mounted in bearings 42, .43, one end of this rod being continued beyond its bearing 43 to form an L-shaped portion 44, upon which is pivotally supported a U-shaped locking piece 45, the outer end of which said L-shaped portion is supported in a circular groove 46 formed in the bearing for the valve stem, and travels in said groove as the crank 41 rotates about its axis. The leg of said U- shaped piece 45 next to the valve stem is formed with a concave free end, which conforms to the shape of the bearing for the valve stem, and permits the valve stem, to move therethrough so long as the upper float lock is not floated. But if a suflicient amount of liquid is introduced into the casing to float the upper float lock, the ellect is to turn the L-shaped portion 44 of the crank rod, vuntil the U-shaped piece 45 carried thereby is moved over, or opposite tothe end of the valve stem, so that the valve stem can no longer. be moved longitudinally in its bearings, and thereby the valve is held firmly to its seat. But if there be no liquid in the casing, then the upper float drops to its lowest position, in which the concaved end of the lower leg of the U-shaped portion lies wholly outside of the path of the valve stem, so that the valve stem is free to move through its bearing, and the valve can open. It will thus be seen that the upper float has the effect of locking the valve stem against opening by agitation when in a horizontal position if the bottle be partly filled, while the lower float has the same effect if the bottle be substantially dry. However, when the bottle is inverted, neither of these lioats prevents the opening of the valve to pour out the liquid, and the valve will open by its own weight, -assisted by the weight of the liquid flowing out through the same. At the same time if it be attempted to lill the bottle when in this inverted position, the valve will rise on account of the buoyancy of the float assisted by the action of the spring, and will close against the entrance of liquid occasioned either by external force or pressure or by suction produced by a vacuum created in .the bottle.

I claim 1. In combination with the neck of a bottle, a casing having a seat, a valve adapted to engage said seat, a float secured to said valve, said valve having a stem, and a locking i'loat mounted on said stem with the upper portion of the float freely movable transversely on said stem, a lower portion being immovable transversely thereto, substantially as described. y

2. In combination with the neck of a bottle, a casing having a seat, a valve adapted to engage said seat, a float secured to said valve, said valve having a stem, a locking ring surrounding said stem, and spaced from said seat, and a locking float movably carried by said stem and arranged to engage said ring when not floated and to pass through said ring when floated, substantially as described.

3. In combination with the neck of a bot tle, a casing having a seat, a valve adapted to engage said seat, a float secured to said valve, said valve having' a stem, means for preventing movement of said stem, and a second oat above the first float in the upright position of the bottle, and adapted, when floated, to move said means into its operative position, substantially as described.

4. In combination with the neck of a bottle, a casingv having a seat, a valve adapted to engage said seat, a float secured to said valve, said valve having a stem, a double crank rod, a ioat carried thereby, a U-shaped piece moved by said crank rod as the ioat is lifted, said U-shaped piece having a part adapted to prevent movement of said stem, when so moved by the lifting of the'float, but arranged to be out of the path of the stem when the float drops to its lowest position, substantially as described.

5. In combination with the neck of a bottle, a casing having a seat, a valve adapted to engage said seat, a float secured to said valve, said valve having a stem, a tiltable Hoat Wholly carried by said stem, and means secured to the casing for engaging said float when tilted, the casing having, adjacent to the iioat, slots to permit liquid to pass freely therethrough from the bottle, substantially as described. p

6. In combination with the neck of a bottle, a casing therein, a series of transversely arranged fences, each fence having passages, the passages of the respective fences being staggered from each other vertically, the parts of each fence between said passages being formed upwardly concaved or dishshaped, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JOHN P. STENDEBACH.

Witnesses:

F. M. WRIGHT, D. B. RICHARDS.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

